NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the assailants behind last month’s attack on tourists in Kashmir to the “ends of the earth”.
India says two of the three “terrorists” involved in the attack were from arch-enemy Pakistan, although Islamabad has denied any involvement. The nuclear-armed nations have announced several tit-for-tat diplomatic and other measures, but Pakistan has said it expects India to launch a military incursion soon.
WHAT HAS INDIA DONE PREVIOUSLY?
2019: On Feb. 14 that year, tensions escalated between the neighbours after a suicide car bombing killed 40 paramilitary troops in Pulwama in Kashmir, a mountainous region also claimed by Pakistan. The attack was claimed by Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammad.
In response, India said its warplanes struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp near the Pakistani town of Balakot in the early hours of Feb. 26. New Delhi said “a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis … were eliminated”. Later, Indian officials put the number of fatalities at 300 militants.
Pakistan acknowledged that Indian jets had crossed into its territory, but said they bombed a hillside without hitting anything substantial.
As the air forces of the two countries engaged, Pakistan captured an Indian pilot whose MiG fighter jet crashed in enemy territory after a dogfight with a Pakistani JF-17. Pakistan returned the pilot days later, and the situation cooled.
2016: On September 18 that year, gunmen stormed an Indian military base in Uri in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, near the border, killing 19 Indian soldiers. Pakistan denied Indian charges that it was behind the attack.
Ten days later, India said it had carried out “surgical strikes” on militant bases across the de facto border. Pakistan denied that any incursion had occurred on its territory.
HOW ARE THE COUNTRIES PREPARING NOW?
Pakistani government ministers have said a military incursion by India was imminent and that they have reinforced their defences. Indian forces have also carried out exercises across various parts of the country.
Troops from the two sides have exchanged small arms fire across their frontier for the past seven nights, but no casualties have been reported so far, India has said.
HOW DO THE COUNTRIES’ DEFENCES COMPARE?
India easily outnumbers Pakistan in active military personnel and combat aircraft, but their nuclear arsenal is nearly the same. India has 172 warheads and Pakistan 170.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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